


an honor

by nonbinarywithaknife (littleboxes)



Series: dimension 20 [54]
Category: Dimension 20 (Web Series)
Genre: ACOC 15 spoilers, Angst and Tragedy, Blood and Injury, Campaign 05: A Crown of Candy, Canon-Typical Violence, Execution, Gen, Tragedy, War, everything is complex oh god
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-30
Updated: 2020-07-30
Packaged: 2021-03-05 21:33:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 532
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25602148
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/littleboxes/pseuds/nonbinarywithaknife
Summary: What is the last part of my title?
Relationships: Theobald Gumbar & Amethar Rocks
Series: dimension 20 [54]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1706107
Comments: 30
Kudos: 44





	an honor

**Author's Note:**

> i dont know what this is, but it's beth @kristenbeeapples' fault

There are bodies everywhere. 

The stench of death is inescapable and there are bodies _everywhere_ , in the trees, littering the field, bodies wearing every color and banner there is.

Theo cannot help but see the body of Liam, just a silhouette lying in the shadows, invisible to anyone not looking for it exactly. Invisible to anyone who hadn’t kept one eye on it throughout the battle, _just in case._

But Theo’s shadow has taken the shape of a peppermint ranger for so long it’s second nature and he can’t see the blood or the wounds but he may as well. He didn’t take the slashes of the blade and he couldn’t have, and Theo is practical and used to war and _yet_ the body in the shadows is so small, so small, only eighteen, _I think I’m a seed guy again?_

A failure.

Further away (on the other side, because there are sides, now, Theo was sworn to protect the crown but he was also ordered to _think for yourself_ and Theo is loyal and he loves his _family_ ) there is another tiny body, (a woman grown) (only eighteen) and Ruby is not hidden in the shadows. 

(Her body, he doesn’t notice, have a shadow at all.)

She hadn’t stayed away, hadn’t kept range, she had charged in, angry and crying and holding Flickerish like she was born to it (like she was Jet) and Theo hadn’t struck the killing blow (he’d watched it happen, let it happen) but he may as well have. It wasn’t his fault, he hadn’t caused the fissures spreading through the royal family like fault lines. And yet.

A failure.

Theo’s armor is cracked and shattered and red with blood and as he stumbles down to one knee, he looks up at Amethar.

How many times had he seen this same thing from Amethar’s side?

Amethar speaks and his voice is graveled with rage and he asks, _What is the last part of my title?_

(Under the rage and the fury, there’s hurt. Pain. Betrayal. First Calroy and now this? You? There is understanding- loyal to the end- and pain- why not to me?)

Theo would smile, if he could. If this were a time to smile. If there weren’t two bodies- so small- lying on opposite sides of his vision. 

The scroll, no doubt, is soaked with blood. 

It’s good, then, that he has never needed it.

“King Amethar of the House of Rocks, First of His Name, Sovereign ruler of Candia and the Sugarlands, Duke of Cookieshire, Protector of the Realm and Defender of the Faith, Bannerman of the Battle of Gumdrop Pass and Hero of Frosting Valley... The Unfallen. It has been an honor, my king,” he says, and no sooner than _king_ makes it past his lips, the blade of Payment Day slides across his throat.

His body falls and Amethar stands alone on a battlefield across from the Witch-Queen (his daughter) and he wants to live to be king to do better, he wants to die to see them again to accept failure for once he wants to _fall_. 

Thunder rumbles. Knuckles crack. A dragon roars. And Amethar goes into a rage.


End file.
